USAR: Lakeland CS: Top 10 driver's reflections

Myrtle Beach, SC - Twenty-nine races down, and one to go.
The Championship Series finale at USA International Speedway is right
around the corner and the final point standings are starting to take
shape. For the first time, drivers are able to...

Myrtle Beach, SC - Twenty-nine races down, and one to go.

The Championship Series finale at USA International Speedway is right
around the corner and the final point standings are starting to take
shape. For the first time, drivers are able to see what the outcome of
the 2003 season will bring and reflect on the highs and lows of the year.

The top-10 drivers in points took some time out from their preparation
for the Championship Finale Hooters 300 presented by Viste to do just
that.

1. Shane Huffman
(No. 84 Jennie-O Turkey Store Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Shane Huffman: Our No. 1 goal was to get back to winning races. Our
second goal was to contend for the championship.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Shane Huffman: The one thing that stands out was our performance at
Winchester, leading every lap of the race. The second one was the race at
Peach State when we cut a tire down while we were leading the race and
lost two laps. We made both laps up and finished third. The team
rebounded well that race.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Shane Huffman: Myrtle Beach and I'll leave it at that.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Shane Huffman: We were leading the race at Ace Speedway and a lapped car
broke a rear end or something. It took out about the first four or five
cars and actually knocked the front off our car. We went back to Mike
Laughlin and he put another snout on it. When we were putting it back
together, we actually changed some things on the front end. When we did
that, that's when our car really started taking off. We had good
racecars before, but it was different after that.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Shane Huffman: We're going to go in order of events. We'd
obviously like to sit on the pole. The second goal would be for the
Jennie-O Turkey Store crew to win the pit championship again. And the
third goal is to win the race and the championship.

2. Benny Gordon
(No. 44 Baird Auto Transport Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Benny Gordon: My goal was to run the All-Pro Series and win the All-Pro
championship. Things shifted around and I became full-time driver in
ProCup. We were going to run a handful of races in both series, but we
liked the Hooters Series better, and decided to take it more seriously.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Benny Gordon: Winning the two races in the Championship Series has been
the highlight of 2003. Getting my first win at Jennerstown was a big load
off my shoulders, and that probably meant the most to me this year.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Benny Gordon: I would say the wreck at USA International was the lowest
moment. We'd just got the car done, had everything aligned and felt
like we were in good shape. The car was good, and we were running good.
We got tied up with a lapped car and backed it into the wall. We
weren't sure what we were going to do after that.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Benny Gordon: I guess that would have to been at Winchester. We had a
really good car at Winchester, and I basically just rode the first half
of the race. Some of our preparation before Winchester has helped us out.
We changed some stuff in the front end and the rear end, and the car
picked up. We went to Jennerstown and the car stayed that way. The
changes we made were what I liked as a driver. In the last three races,
the car has stayed that way.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Benny Gordon: We're doing a lot of work to get prepared for
Lakeland. Our goal is to go down there and led every lap. We're
trying to finish this season on a bang. We've got it mapped out to
where we know what we have to do and what everyone else has to do for us
to win the championship. Obviously, there's added incentive to win
because there's an extra $25,000 up for grabs if we win another
race. Hopefully, for our sake, we can do that and Shane will finish
seventh or worse.

3. Jay Fogleman
(No. 4 Lucas Oil Products Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Jay Fogleman: We've been getting good sponsorship from Lucas Oil
and, with the team we have, we thought we could win four or five races
and win the championship. We got parts of it done, but we haven't
executed every week.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Jay Fogleman: There wasn't any one highlight. I guess to be able to
win three races this season, as competitive as this series has gotten,
was the highlight of my year. We expected to win more than that, but it
wasn't a disappointing year.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Jay Fogleman: We were at Mansfield, broke on the warm-up lap and never
got to make a lap. That had to be the lowest point of the year.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Jay Fogleman: Our season has been extremely up and down. We'd go
out, win one week, and be the first car out the next week.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Jay Fogleman: With a miracle, we can win the championship. If we run like
we should, we can come out of there in second place. That's a
realistic goal and that's what we're looking to go there and
do.

4. Mardy Lindley
(No. 15 Hooters Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Mardy Lindley: It's always a goal to win that championship and get
yourself in position to do that. I don't think we can do that after
having a bad day at Peach State. It's going to be alright. I think
we can make it back up to second.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Mardy Lindley: We went to Ace Speedway and won the race there. Then, we
went to Concord and should have won the race there, but the caution came
out.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Mardy Lindley: Probably, Saturday at Peach State. It was my fault for
doing it. I made a poor adjustment to the car in practice. I thought the
track would loosen up on Sunday, but my car pushed all day. We really
couldn't do anything about it once the race had started.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Mardy Lindley: There were three or four races in a row that I felt like
we should have won. In about four races, the worst we finished was
second.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Mardy Lindley: The last time we were there, I thought we had the dominant
car. My car seems to run a lot better when there's a better surface
on the racetrack. I really think I should win the race down there.
There's going to be a lot of people running good, but I think we
hit on something last time. Unless they've caught up to us, we
should win the race. If we do that, we'll just have to wait and see
what the rest of them do as far as points.

5. Jeff Agnew
(No. 73 NGA/Hooters Golf Tour Chevrolet)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Jeff Agnew: We went after winning the Northern Division championship. We
felt like it was very important to try and win that. That was our main
goal, but we also wanted to win as many races as we could. We wanted to
win a couple more races than we did last year, but we ended up winning
the same amount.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Jeff Agnew: Winning the Northern series points was the highlight of 2003.
That was big for us. I think if you look back on it now, I think we would
be farther back in the championship if we didn't win the regular
season.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Jeff Agnew: Our struggles started at the beginning of the Championship
Series. We've just been out in left field everywhere we been, and
that's a big change from the regular season.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Jeff Agnew: There hasn't been a turning point in the season. At the
very first of the year, we changed some stuff around on the front end of
the car and it really helped us. We had a really good car all year long,
but we had some small things that kept us from winning more races.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Jeff Agnew: We've looked at the points and we think we can get
third. I guess second will be a long shot. Finishing third in points is
what we're looking to do. We're just going to try and do what
we can to get to third.

6. Steven Christian
(No. 2 Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Steven Christian: I'll give a short and true answer. We wanted the
championship. That was the only goal we had.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Steven Christian: As bad as it is to say so, I would have to say
finishing second at Myrtle Beach. After we had such a rough year, we
finally got everything halfway in order and finished in the top three.
After the way the year has gone, that would have to be it.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Steven Christian: Obviously, wrecking the car at Nashville in testing was
a low moment. It was more about confidence than anything. Our confidence
was about as low as it could be.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Steven Christian: [The wreck at Nashville] was the low point, but it was
also the turning point of our season. We decided to switch crew chiefs
after that, and we've been improving every week since then.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Steven Christian: We're going to look to accomplish moving from
sixth to third in points at Lakeland. We're 26 points out of third.
If [Huffman and Gordon] have trouble, we could move further than that,
but I don't wish that on either of them.

7. Mike Laughlin Jr.
(No. 7 www.quartermidget.biz Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Mike Laughlin Jr.: We wanted to run the whole season and finish in the
top five in points. Our budget is not the best right now so we had to
pinch our pennies for the last five races, but I feel like we can finish
in the top five.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Mike Laughlin Jr.: There's not just one thing that stands out in my
mind. I'm just proud of the way the people at the shop have helped
me out. All the guys who help me out are volunteers. It makes me proud
that they stand behind me through thick and thin.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Mike Laughlin Jr.: I had a bunch of them during the season. We've
had a top-three car in several races and had something break or the
cautions didn't fall our way. It's just been bad luck really.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Mike Laughlin Jr.: We've been steadily gaining on it all year. I
knew we had to watch our budget each week. I had to ask myself if we
needed to spend $500 on something or wait until the last five races.
Obviously, it's starting to show in the last five races.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Mike Laughlin Jr.: I think we can finish in the top five in points. If we
have a weekend like we did at Jefferson, I could go in there with the
momentum we've got and win the race. I'm not point racing.
The points are going to fall were they may. If I go out there and run
best that I can run, the points will take care of themselves.

8. Mart Nesbitt
(No. 92 Royal Purple Performance Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Mart Nesbitt: We had a goal to get two wins, a pole and finish top five
in points.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Mart Nesbitt: Of course, getting that first win at South Boston was one
of them. The other one was getting some consistency in our program to
where we're running up front every weekend.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Mart Nesbitt: We lost a motor at Southern National. We had gained some
momentum, but we ended up blowing a motor there, and it took a month to
get going again. The second one had to be at Peach State [in the
Championship Series]. We just fell on our face.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Mart Nesbitt: The turning point was when we got our engine program
straightened out. Not that it was totally responsible for the turnaround,
but it gave us some momentum and confidence. We were able to launch off
of that. I think we had like nine or 10 top 10s in a row after switching
to Charlie and Robert Long engines.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Mart Nesbitt: Realistically, I think we can end up from fourth to 11th,
depending on if everybody else does what their capable of doing.
We're going to Lakeland with the goal of running in the top five.
We finished fifth there last race. If we do that this time, we'll
probably end up in the top five in points.

9. Brian Ross
(No. 42 US Insurance Group Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Brian Ross: Ultimately, we wanted to try and repeat as the Northern
Division champion. We thought we had a shot to do that this year.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Brian Ross: It felt really good when we won up in Canada after we
finished second up there last year. We had a shot a winning at Kil-Kare
Speedway, but tire stager messed up on us a little bit.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Brian Ross: We wrecked at Winchester when the motor broke. That really
put us behind. We had to run an old Busch car for about seven races, and
we've been playing catch-up for the rest of the year. The other one
was the wrecking at Myrtle Beach. We had to put a new nose on the car and
try to get it ready for Peach State.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Brian Ross: We broke the motor at Winchester and broke the rear end over
at Illiana and that ruined our chances this season. Darrin [Odle] calls
this season our sophomore slump.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Brian Ross: Our goal after the first couple of [Championship Series]
races was to finish in the top five in points. Now, to do that,
we've got to go Lakeland and dominate the race. But the way Shane
and couple of the other guys have been running, that's going to be
tough to do. Hopefully, we can come out of there with a top five.

10. Jason Sarvis
(No. 22 Courtesy Ford/Black's Tire Service Ford)

What were your goals coming into the 2003 season?
Jason Sarvis: Realistically, we wanted to have ourselves in position to
win the championship again.

What was the highlight of the 2003 season?
Jason Sarvis: I'd probably have to say that winning at Hickory.
Hickory is probably one of my worst tracks on the circuit, and to go to
victory lane there was the highlight of my season.

What was the lowest moment of the 2003 season?
Jason Sarvis: Sitting backwards up against the wall at Myrtle Beach
definitely had to be the lowest point. We were going backwards in the
race, but we were still running sixth. There's a big difference in
points from sixth to where we ended up.

What was the turning point of the 2003 season?
Jason Sarvis: After missing the first race, we were able to come back and
be in good shape going into the Championship Series. Halfway through the
year, we basically made a crew chief switch and reorganized. I believe
that's made our deal even stronger. The communication has been stronger.

What are your goals to accomplish at Lakeland?
Jason Sarvis: I think we can get up near the top five in points. We might
be able to finish sixth in points. That's about the best we can do.
If I can't win, I don't really care about where we finish in
points. I want to go win at Lakeland. If we do that, the other stuff will
take care of itself.